


In the Midst of All

by voleuse



Series: Those Human Seraphim [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-05
Updated: 2010-04-05
Packaged: 2017-10-09 07:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/84337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Midst of All

**Author's Note:**

> Post-series. Title and summary adapted from _Easter, 1916_ by William Butler Yeats.

Xander woke when sunshine filtered through the drapes, and he flailed against the weight of unfamiliar bedsheets. The air smelled like dust and tin, and it sounded like a city outside. He pressed a flat hand against his face, the edges of his eyepatch scratching against his palm.

Something clattered nearby, and Xander bolted upwards into memory. Giles's old flat in Camden, London, and a research "vacation" that had him alphabetizing books written in cuneiform.

Xander slumped back into bed with a groan, and listened as Giles cooked something, doubtless ungodly and British, in the room beyond.

*

 

The bookshop was narrow and bright, sunlight slanting down from a high, semi-smudged window. Xander stared up at the dust floating, squinting. His eye watered, and then Giles cleared his throat.

"Have you finished with that last stack?" Giles asked. When Xander blinked at him, Giles nodded his head toward the pile of books on the shelf behind him. Xander glanced at them; they were in the correct order, though he didn't remember sorting them.

"Yeah, sure," he replied. He reached back, the stool creaking as he shifted weight, and gathered the books carefully in the crook of his arm. "It's faster when they have words in them."

Instead of frowning, Giles took the books with a tight smile. "Of course." He stepped back, then hesitated. "Are you all right?"

Xander stretched, casually, and then stood. "Never better." He dragged his stool to the next aisle over. "You know me and books, G-Man." He glanced at Giles sidelong; the fillip of sarcasm seemed to have reassured him.

"Let me know if you need anything," Giles instructed before disappearing to the back room.

Xander settled onto the stool and touched the bumpy spine of an oversized book. "Never better," he echoed to himself.

*

 

The next morning, Xander trudged into the kitchen wearing boxers and a Harley Quinn T-shirt. He scratched under his eyepatch, at the corner of his eye. "If you made beans for breakfast again, I won't be held responsible."

Giles set a mug on the table with a snort. "Bacon and eggs and porridge," he announced. "And coffee." At Xander's glee, Giles laughed. "Heathen."

Xander snatched a piece of bacon from the pan before sliding sideways into a chair. "I don't even know what porridge _is_," he lamented. "Unless it has something to do with peas."

Giles leaned against the kitchen counter, a steaming bowl of _whatever porridge was_ cupped in one hand. He watched Xander fork goopy eggs and fatty bacon onto a plate, until finally Xander squinted at him.

"Is my hair weird?" He took a bite of eggs, mouthing around them, "And these are disgusting."

Giles, a spoonful of porridge in his mouth, shook his head. "They're fine," he said, then set the bowl down. "You haven't had much time to sightsee, I've noticed."

Xander swallowed. "We've got work to do, right?" He took a single gulp of coffee. "Okay, that's disgusting, too."

Giles waited out Xander's sputtering before continuing. "There isn't anything urgent today," he said.

Xander set his mug down. "Are you going to make me go on that ferris wheel?"

Giles laughed.


End file.
